ANIMAL CONTROL OFFICER

• Enforces provisions of applicable animal control ordinances, laws, and regulations; initiates any actions necessary to correct deviations or violations; issues citations as appropriate.
• Provides information, education, and assistance to the public concerning animal control issues, animal control ordinances, humane treatment of animals, animal behavior problems, or related issues; mediates/resolves citizen disputes.
• Responds to incoming calls/complaints concerning various animal issues, such as animal bites, potential animal cruelty/abuse, stray/nuisance animals, barking dogs, animals in distress, sick/injured animals, wild/dangerous animals, animal behavior problems, or animal control laws; takes appropriate action on complaints; responds to emergency calls and works with law enforcement personnel when needed.
• Patrols city streets to locate and pick up stray animals; assists animals in problem situations; sets and monitors animal traps; captures domestic, wild, vicious, or injured animals; loads/unloads animals into/out of cages; transports animals to animal shelters, veterinarian offices, or other locations; relocates displaced wildlife; removes dead animals from roads.
• Handles, lifts, and carries animals, restraining as appropriate; handles frightened, fractious, and injured animals; checks animals for current license tags and for signs of rabies, disease, or other illnesses.
• Provides care for animals while in custody of animal control personnel; performs cleaning, feeding, and watering of animals as needed.
• Conducts investigations into animal complaints; performs follow-up as needed; issues warnings or citations to violators of city animal control ordinance; serves subpoenas; prepares case files and presents cases in court as appropriate.
• Follows safety procedures, utilizes safety equipment, and monitors work environment to ensure safety of employees and other individuals.
• Operates various machinery, equipment, and tools associated with animal control activities, which may include an animal control vehicle, animal restraint equipment, animal traps, catch poles, nets, snake tongs, tranquilizer gun, camera, telephone, pager, or two-way radio.
• Performs general/preventive maintenance tasks necessary to keep animal control vehicles, equipment, and tools in clean and operable condition, which may include inspecting equipment, refueling vehicles, checking/replacing fluids, greasing equipment, washing/cleaning truck/equipment, or cleaning shop/work areas; monitors equipment operations to maintain efficiency and safety; reports faulty equipment.
• Monitors inventory levels of department equipment, tools, and supplies to ensure availability of adequate materials to conduct work activities; initiates requests for new/replacement items; replenishes equipment and supplies on vehicle as needed.
• Maintains logs/records of work activities; prepares daily records and incident reports; compiles statistical data involving work activities, such as number of animals picked up or impounded, number of warnings/citations issued, number of trips to shelter, telephone call volume, or other activities.
• Prepares or completes various forms, reports, correspondence, incident reports, impound sheets, quarantine records, case documentation, subpoenas, citations, or other documents.
• Receives various forms, reports, correspondence, complaints, incident reports, police reports, bite reports, laboratory test reports, photographs, maps, policies, procedures, ordinances, manuals, reference materials, or other documentation; reviews, completes, processes, forwards, or retains as appropriate.
• Communicates with supervisor, employees, other departments, law enforcement personnel, court personnel, other animal control agencies, veterinarians, animal shelter staff, complainants, violators, the public, outside agencies, and other individuals as needed to coordinate work activities, review status of work, exchange information, or resolve problems.
• Maintains a current knowledge and awareness of applicable laws/ordinances; maintains an awareness of new equipment, methods, trends, and advances in the profession.
• Performs general/clerical tasks, which may include answering telephone calls, making copies, sending/receiving faxes, or filing documentation.
• Provides assistance to other employees or departments as needed.
• Performs other related duties as required.

Requires a High School Diploma or equivalent; and one (1) year of related experience that includes animal control or animal care/handling, and vehicle operation, or equivalent combination of education and experience.

Special Qualifications:

N/A

• Ability to determine, calculate, tabulate, and/or summarize data; ability to perform subsequent actions in relation to these computational operations.
• Ability to apply principles of persuasion and/or influence over others in coordinating activities of a project, program, or designated area of responsibility.
• Ability to operate, maneuver, and/or control the actions of equipment, machinery, tools, and/or materials used in performing essential functions.
• Ability to utilize a wide variety of reference and descriptive data and information.
• Ability to perform addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division; may include ability to count, record counts, and perform basic measuring.
• Ability to apply principles of influence systems, such as motivation, incentive, and leadership, and to exercise independent judgment to apply facts and principles for developing approaches and techniques to resolve problems.
• Ability to exercise judgment, decisiveness, and creativity in situations involving the evaluation of information against sensory, judgmental, or subjective criteria, as opposed to that which is clearly measurable or verifiable.

• Hearing: Perceiving the nature of sounds at normal speaking levels with or without correction. Ability to receive detailed information through oral communication, and to make the discrimination in sound.
• Repetitive Motion: Substantial movements (motions) of the wrist, hands, and/or fingers.
• Speaking: Expressing or exchanging ideas by means of the spoken word including the ability to convey detailed or important spoken instructions to other workers accurately and concisely.
• Visual Acuity: Have close visual acuity to perform an activity such as: preparing and analyzing data and figures; transcribing; viewing a computer terminal; and/or extensive reading.